Wisdom: Pure Hearts

Who can say, "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"?
-Proverbs 20:9

The key to this Proverb is the subject of the verb. I cannot say that I have made my heart pure. If the responsibility is mine, then I will never be clean from my sin. But we can see in this Proverb a flip side. It’s like a rhetorical question, asked not to receive and answer, but to make the hearer think.

Who truly can say “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”? If it is not me or you, is there anyone who can say this? Is there even one who is pure and sinless?

Yes, there is One who was without sin, One whose heart was pure. This One is Jesus Christ. We see in this Proverb a tension in question form: If I cannot say that I have made my heart pure, who can? If my heart is not pure, can I ever be clean from my sin?

We go back to the subject of the verb again. If you say that you have made your heart pure, then you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you. You will never be clean from your sin. If you cry out to the One who hears, if you seek your purity in and from Him, then you will be clean from all your sins.

And why is that? Why should Christ, who is holy and sinless turn to us and cleanse us from our sins? Because He loves us. God loves us and that is the sole reason that He sent His Son. It is “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21

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Psalm 51:1-15

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
Amen.
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